The Centuries by Nostradamus, published in 1555.

CENTURY I  CENTURY II  CENTURY III  CENTURY IV  CENTURY V  CENTURY VI  CENTURY VII  CENTURY VIII  CENTURY IX  CENTURY X  EPISTLE TO HENRY II  NOSTRADAMUS TO HIS SON


CENTURY IV

I.

That of the remainder of blood unshed:
Venice demands that relief be given:
After having waited a very long time,
City delivered up at the first sound of the horn.

II.

Because of death France will take to making a journey,
Fleet by sea, marching over the Pyrenees Mountains,
Spain in trouble, military people marching:
Some of the greatest Ladies carried off to France.

III.

From Arras and Bourges many banners of Dusky Ones,
A greater number of Gascons to fight on foot,
Those along the Rhône will bleed the Spanish:
Near the mountain where Sagunto sits.

IV.

The impotent Prince angry, complaints and quarrels,
Rape and pillage, by cocks and Africans:
Great it is by land, by sea infinite sails,
Italy alone will be chasing Celts.

V.

Cross, peace, under one the divine word accomplished,
Spain and Gaul will be united together:
Great disaster near, and combat very bitter:
No heart will be so hardy as not to tremble.

VI.

By the new clothes after the find is made,
Malicious plot and machination:
First will die he who will prove it,
Color Venetian trap.

VII.

The minor son of the great and hated Prince,
He will have a great touch of leprosy at the age of twenty:
Of grief his mother will die very sad and emaciated,
And he will die where the loose flesh falls.

VIII.

The great city by prompt and sudden assault
Surprised at night, guards interrupted:
The guards and watches of Saint-Quentin
Slaughtered, guards and the portals broken.

IX.

The chief of the army in the middle of the crowd
Will be wounded by an arrow shot in the thighs,
When Geneva in tears and distress
Will be betrayed by Lausanne and the Swiss.

X.

The young Prince falsely accused
Will plunge the army into trouble and quarrels:
The chief murdered for his support,
Sceptre to pacify: then to cure scrofula.

XI.

He who will have the government of the great cope
Will be prevailed upon to perform several deeds:
The twelve red one who will come to soil the cloth,
Under murder, murder will come to be perpetrated.

XII.

The greater army put to flight in disorder,
Scarcely further will it be pursued:
Army reassembled and the legion reduced,
Then it will be chased out completely from the Gauls.

XIII.

News of the greater loss reported,
The report will astonish the army:
Troops united against the revolted:
The double phalanx will abandon the great one.

XIV.

The sudden death of the first personage
Will have caused a change and put another in the sovereignty:
Soon, late come so high and of low age,
Such by land and sea that it will be necessary to fear him.

XV.

From where they will think to make famine come,
From there will come the surfeit:
The eye of the sea through canine greed
For the one the other will give oil and wheat.

XVI.

The city of liberty made servile:
Made the asylum of profligates and dreamers.
The King changed to them not so violent:
From one hundred become more than a thousand.

XVII.

To change at Beaune, Nuits, Châlon and Dijon,
The duke wishing to improve the Carmelite [nun]
Marching near the river, fish, diver's beak
Will see the tail: the gate will be locked.

XVIII.

Some of those most lettered in the celestial facts
Will be condemned by illiterate princes:
Punished by Edict, hunted, like criminals,
And put to death wherever they will be found.

XIX.

Before Rouen the siege laid by the Insubrians,
By land and sea the passages shut up:
By Hainaut and Flanders, by Ghent and those of Liége
Through cloaked gifts they will ravage the shores.

XX.

Peace and plenty for a long time the place will praise:
Throughout his realm the fleur-de-lys deserted:
Bodies dead by water, land one will bring there,
Vainly awaiting the good fortune to be buried there.

XXI.

The change will be very difficult:
City and province will gain by the change:
Heart high, prudent established, chased out one cunning,
Sea, land, people will change their state.

XXII.

The great army will be chased out,
In one moment it will be needed by the King:
The faith promised from afar will be broken,
He will be seen naked in pitiful disorder.

XXIII.

The legion in the marine fleet
Will burn lime, loadstone sulfur and pitch:
The long rest in the secure place:
"Port Selyn" and Monaco, fire will consume them.

XXIV.

Beneath the holy earth of a soul the faint voice heard,
Human flame seen to shine as divine:
It will cause the earth to be stained with the blood of the monks,
And to destroy the holy temples for the impure ones.

XXV.

Lofty bodies endlessly visible to the eye,
Through these reasons they will come to obscure:
Body, forehead included, sense and head invisible,
Diminishing the sacred prayers.

XXVI.

The great swarm of bees will arise,
Such that one will not know whence they have come;
By night the ambush, the sentinel under the vines
City delivered by five babblers not naked.

XXVII.

Salon, Tarascon, "Mausol", the arch of "SEX.",
Where the pyramid is still standing:
They will come to deliver the Prince of "Annemark,"
Redemption reviled in the temple of Artemis.

XXVIII.

When Venus will be covered by the Sun,
Under the splendor will be a hidden form:
Mercury will have exposed them to the fire,
Through warlike noise it will be insulted.

XXIX.

The Sun hidden eclipsed by Mercury
Will be placed only second in the sky:
Of Vulcan Hermes will be made into food,
The Sun will be seen pure, glowing red and golden.

XXX.

Eleven more times the Moon the Sun will not want,
All raised and lowered by degree:
And put so low that one will stitch little gold:
Such that after famine plague, the secret uncovered.

XXXI.

The Moon in the full of night over the high mountain,
The new sage with a lone brain sees it:
By his disciples invited to be immortal,
Eyes to the south. Hands in bosoms, bodies in the fire.

XXXII.

In the places and times of flesh giving way to fish,
The communal law will be made in opposition:
It will hold strongly the old ones, then removed from the midst,
Loving of Everything in Common put far behind.

XXXIII.

Jupiter joined more to Venus than to the Moon
Appearing with white fullness:
Venus hidden under the whiteness of Neptune
Struck by Mars through the white stew.

XXXIV.

The great one of the foreign land led captive,
Chained in gold offered to King "Chyren":
He who in Ausonia, Milan will lose the war,
And all his army put to fire and sword.

XXXV.

The fire put out the virgins will betray
The greater part of the new band:
Lightning in sword and lance the lone Kings will guard
Etruria and Corsica, by night throat cut.

XXXVI.

The new sports set up again in Gaul,
After victory in the Insubrian campaign:
Mountains of Hesperia, the great ones tied and trussed up:
"Romania" and Spain to tremble with fear.

XXXVII.

The Gaul will come to penetrate the mountains by leaps:
He will occupy the great place of Insubria:
His army to enter to the greatest depth,
Genoa and Monaco will drive back the red fleet.

XXXVIII.

While he will engross the Duke, King and Queen
With the captive Byzantine chief in Samothrace:
Before the assault one will eat the order:
Reverse side metaled will follow the trail of the blood.

XXXIX.

The Rhodians will demand relief,
Through the neglect of its heirs abandoned.
The Arab empire will reveal its course,
The cause set right again by Hesperia.

XL.

The fortresses of the besieged shut up,
Through gunpowder sunk into the abyss:
The traitors will all be stowed away alive,
Never did such a pitiful schism happen to the sextons.

XLI.

Female sex captive as a hostage
Will come by night to deceive the guards:
The chief of the army deceived by her language
Will abandon her to the people, it will be pitiful to see.

XLII.

Geneva and Langres through those of Chartres and Dôle
And through Grenoble captive at Montélimar
Seyssel, Lausanne, through fraudulent deceit,
They will betray them for sixty marks of gold.

XLIII.

Arms will be heard clashing in the sky:
That very same year the divine ones enemies:
They will want unjustly to discuss the holy laws:
Through lightning and war the complacent one put to death.

XLIV.

Two large ones of Mende, of Rodez and Milhau
Cahors, Limoges, Castres bad week
By night the entry, from Bordeaux an insult
Through Périgord at the peal of the bell.

XLV.

Through conflict a King will abandon his realm:
The greatest chief will fail in time of need:
Dead, ruined few will escape it,
All cut up, one will be a witness to it.

XLVI.

The fact well defended by excellence,
Guard yourself Tours from your near ruin:
London and Nantes will make a defense through Reims
Not passing further in the time of the drizzle.

XLVII.

The savage black one when he will have tried
His bloody hand at fire, sword and drawn bows:
All of his people will be terribly frightened,
Seeing the greatest ones hung by neck and feet.

XLVIII.

The fertile, spacious Ausonian plain
Will produce so many gadflies and locusts,
The solar brightness will become clouded,
All devoured, great plague to come from them.

XLIX.

Before the people blood will be shed,
Only from the high heavens will it come far:
But for a long time of one nothing will be heard,
The spirit of a lone one will come to bear witness against it.

L.

Libra will see the Hesperias govern,
Holding the monarchy of heaven and earth:
No one will see the forces of Asia perished,
Only seven hold the hierarchy in order.

LI.

A Duke eager to follow his enemy
Will enter within impeding the phalanx:
Hurried on foot they will come to pursue so closely
That the day will see a conflict near Ganges.

LII.

In the besieged city men and woman to the walls,
Enemies outside the chief ready to surrender:
The wind will be strongly against the troops,
They will be driven away through lime, dust and ashes.

LIII.

The fugitives and exiles recalled:
Fathers and sons great garnishing of the deep wells:
The cruel father and his people choked:
His far worse son submerged in the well.

LIV.

Of the name which no Gallic King ever had
Never was there so fearful a thunderbolt,
Italy, Spain and the English trembling,
Very attentive to a woman and foreigners.

LV.

When the crow on the tower made of brick
For seven hours will continue to scream:
Death foretold, the statue stained with blood,
Tyrant murdered, people praying to their Gods.

LVI.

After the victory of the raving tongue,
The spirit tempered in tranquility and repose:
Throughout the conflict the bloody victor makes orations,
Roasting the tongue and the flesh and the bones.

LVII.

Ignorant envy upheld before the great King,
He will propose forbidding the writings:
His wife not his wife tempted by another,
Twice two more neither skill nor cries.

LVIII.

To swallow the burning Sun in the throat,
The Etruscan land washed by human blood:
The chief pail of water, to lead his son away,
Captive lady conducted into Turkish land.

LIX.

Two beset in burning fervor:
By thirst for two full cups extinguished,
The fort filed, and an old dreamer,
To the Genevans he will show the track from "Nira."

LX.

The seven children left in hostage,
The third will come to slaughter his child:
Because of his son two will be pierced by the point,
Genoa, Florence, he will come to confuse them.

LXI.

The old one mocked and deprived of his place,
By the foreigner who will suborn him:
Hands of his son eaten before his face,
His brother to Chartres, Orléans Rouen will betray.

LXII.

A colonel with ambition plots,
He will seize the greatest army,
Against his Prince false invention,
And he will be discovered under his arbor.

LXIII.

The Celtic army against the mountaineers,
Those who will be learned and able in bird-calling:
Peasants will soon work fresh presses,
All hurled on the sword's edge.

LXIV.

The transgressor in bourgeois garb,
He will come to try the King with his offense:
Fifteen soldiers for the most part bandits,
Last of life and chief of his fortune.

LXV.

Towards the deserter of the great fortress,
After he will have abandoned his place,
His adversary will exhibit very great prowess,
The Emperor soon dead will be condemned.

LXVI.

Under the feigned color of seven shaven heads
Diverse spies will be scattered:
Wells and fountains sprinkled with poisons,
At the fort of Genoa devourers of men.

LXVII.

The year that Saturn and Mars are equal fiery,
The air very dry parched long meteor:
Through secret fires a great place blazing from burning heat,
Little rain, warm wind, wars, incursions.

LXVIII.

In the place very near not far from Venus,
The two greatest ones of Asia and of Africa,
From the Rhine and Lower Danube they will be said to have come,
Cries, tears at Malta and the Ligurian side.

LXIX.

The exiles will hold the great city,
The citizens dead, murdered and driven out:
Those of Aquileia will promise Parma
To show them the entry through the untracked places.

LXX.

Quite contiguous to the great Pyrenees mountains,
One to direct a great army against the Eagle:
Veins opened, forces exterminated,
As far as Pau will he come to chase the chief.

LXXI.

In place of the bride the daughters slaughtered,
Murder with great error no survivor to be:
Within the well vestals inundated,
The bride extinguished by a drink of Aconite.

LXXII.

Those of Nîmes through Agen and Lectoure
At Saint-Félix will hold their parliament:
Those of Bazas will come at the unhappy hour
To seize Condom and Marsan promptly.

LXXIII.

The great nephew by force will test
The treaty made by the pusillanimous heart:
The Duke will try Ferrara and Asti,
When the pantomine will take place in the evening.

LXXIV.

Those of lake Geneva and of Mâcon:
All assembled against those of Aquitaine:
Many Germans many more Swiss,
They will be routed along with those of "Humane."

LXXV.

Ready to fight one will desert,
The chief adversary will obtain the victory:
The rear guard will make a defense,
The faltering ones dead in the white territory.

LXXVI.

The people of Agen by those of Périgord
Will be vexed, holding as far as the Rhône:
The union of Gascons and Bigorre
To betray the temple, the priest giving his sermon.

LXXVII.

"Selin" monarch Italy peaceful,
Realms united by the Christian King of the World:
Dying he will want to lie in Blois soil,
After having chased the pirates from the sea.

LXXVIII.

The great army of the civil struggle,
By night Parma to the foreign one discovered,
Seventy-nine murdered in the town,
The foreigners all put to the sword.

LXXIX.

Blood Royal flee, Monheurt, Mas, Aiguillon,
The Landes will be filled by Bordelais,
Navarre, Bigorre points and spurs,
Deep in hunger to devour acorns of the cork oak.

LXXX.

Near the great river, great ditch, earth drawn out,
In fifteen parts will the water be divided:
The city taken, fire, blood, cries, sad conflict,
And the greatest part involving the colosseum.

LXXXI.

Promptly will one build a bridge of boats,
To pass the army of the great Belgian Prince:
Poured forth inside and not far from Brussels,
Passed beyond, seven cut up by pike.

LXXXII.

A throng approaches coming from Slaconia,
The old Destroyer the city will ruin:
He will see his "Romania" quite desolated,
Then he will not know how to put out the great flame.

LXXXIII.

Combat by night the valiant captain
Conquered will flee few people conquered:
His people stirred up, sedition not in vain,
His own son will hold him besieged.

LXXXIV.

A great one of Auxerre will die very miserable,
Driven out by those who had been under him:
Put in chains, behind a strong cable,
In the year that Mars, Venus and Sun are in conjunction in summer.

LXXXV.

The white coal will be chased by the black one,
Made prisoner led to the dung cart,
Moor Camel on twisted feet,
Then the younger one will blind the hobby falcon.

LXXXVI.

The year that Saturn will be conjoined in Aquarius
With the Sun, the very powerful King
Will be received and anointed at Reims and Aix,
After conquests he will murder the innocent.

LXXXVII.

A King's son learned in many languages,
Different from his senior in the realm:
His handsome father understood by the greater son,
He will cause his principal adherent to perish.

LXXXVIII.

Anthony by name great by the filthy fact
Of Lousiness wasted to his end:
One who will want to be desirous of lead,
Passing the port he will be immersed by the elected one.

LXXXIX.

Thirty of London will conspire secretly
Against their King, the enterprise on the bridge:
He and his satellites will have a distaste for death,
A fair King elected, native of Frisia.

XC.

The two armies will be unable to unite at the walls,
In that instant Milan and Pavia to tremble:
Hunger, thirst, doubt will come to plague them very strongly
They will not have a single morsel of meat, bread or victuals.

XCI.

For the Gallic Duke compelled to fight in the duel,
The ship of Melilla will not approach Monaco,
Wrongly accused, perpetual prison,
His son will strive to reign before his death.

XCII.

The head of the valiant captain cut off,
It will be thrown before his adversary:
His body hung on the sail-yard of the ship,
Confused it will flee by oars against the wind.

XCIII.

A serpent seen near the royal bed,
It will be by the lady at night the dogs will not bark:
Then to be born in France a Prince so royal,
Come from heaven all the Princes will see him.

XCIV.

Two great brothers will be chased out of Spain,
The elder conquered under the Pyrenees mountains:
The sea to redden, Rhône, bloody Lake Geneva from Germany,
Narbonne, Béziers contaminated by Agde.

XCV.

The realm left to two they will hold it very briefly,
Three years and seven months passed by they will make war:
The two Vestals will rebel in opposition,
Victor the younger in the land of Brittany.

XCVI.

The elder sister of the British Isle
Will be born fifteen years before her brother,
Because of her promise procuring verification,
She will succeed to the kingdom of the balance.

XCVII.

The year that Mercury, Mars, Venus in retrogression,
The line of the great Monarch will not fail:
Elected by the Portuguese people near Cadiz,
One who will come to grow very old in peace and reign.

XCVIII.

Those of Alba will pass into Rome,
By means of Langres the multitude muffled up,
Marquis and Duke will pardon no man,
Fire, blood, smallpox no water the crops to fail.

XCIX.

The valiant elder son of the King's daughter,
He will hurl back the Celts very far,
Such that he will cast thunderbolts, so many in such an array
Few and distant, then deep into the Hesperias.

C.

From the celestial fire on the Royal edifice,
When the light of Mars will go out,
Seven months great war, people dead through evil
Rouen, Evreux the King will not fail.

End of Century IV

CENTURY I / CENTURY II / CENTURY III / CENTURY IV / CENTURY V / CENTURY VI / CENTURY VII / CENTURY VIII  CENTURY IX / CENTURY X / EPISTLE TO HENRY II / NOSTRADAMUS TO HIS SON